Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

A good name is more desirable than great riches;

to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.[1]n

Proverbs 22:1–2 ESV

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all.

2 Rich and poor have this in common:

The Lord is the Maker of them all.[2]o [3]

8 Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity,[4]x

Proverbs 22:8–9 ESV

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail. Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.[5]y

9 The generous will themselves be blessed,[6]z

for they share their food with the poor.[7]a [8]

22 Do not exploit the poor[9]l because they are poor

Proverbs 22:22–23 ESV

Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.

and do not crush the needy in court,[10]m

23 for the Lord will take up their case[11]n

and will exact life for life.[12]o [13]

James 2:1–17 ESV

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor.[14]b Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Rev. Charissa Clark Howe

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Deeds

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.[15]

Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

Rev. Charissa Clark Howe

Liberty Presbyterian Church

9/6/15

“God helps those who help themselves.” This sounds like pretty solid advice. It’s strong advice – advice about being self-reliant. It’s good old fashioned “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” kind of advice. You want something? Get it yourself. If you don’t have things. . . it’s because you didn’t try hard enough. Those who have have because they are hard workers and those who don’t have don’t have because they didn’t work hard enough. It’s a pretty simple system.

But it’s not how the world works, and it’s completely unscriptural. The phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is often quoted as being from the Bible, but it’s not. It’s found in ancient Greek literature. A similar phrase is found in the Quran, but it’s nowhere to be found in the Bible.

It’s not found in the Bible because that’s simply not how the world works. We are never in the Bible called to judge why the rich are rich and the poor are poor. There are plenty of people who work several jobs day and night just to pay the rent and get the basic food on the table. There are others who are just sort of handed what they need because they were born in the right place at the right time. There are places in the world where being poor means that you don’t have the latest iPhone model, and there are places in the world where being rich means you have enough to eat. And it’s not that one place in the world is just full of more industrious people and other parts are full of lazy people.

The US holds over 25% of the world’s wealth, but fewer than 5% of the world’s population. That doesn’t mean this country is simply full of people who are harder working than the single mother of four in Uganda who works day and night just to put rice in the bellies of her children. It just means we’re all pretty darn lucky to live here in this beautiful, safe, economically stable community.

Even in just our own country, the US shows wider gaps between the richest and the poorest citizens than any other developed country in the world. In a country that holds such a large portion of the world’s wealth, almost 10% of children are in homes that are considered “food insecure.” That means that they don’t have reliable access to nutritious food because they live in poverty and/or in neighborhoods where there is simply nowhere to buy food other than fast food restaurants. They call these areas “food deserts.”

I preached almost exactly this same message on this same passage three years ago at my last church. At that time, the Syrian refugee crisis was front and center on the news. Dead children were washing up on beaches after their families fled their war-torn homeland. Today, as I revisit this passage, it’s not any better. The world is still trying to figure out how to be friends and neighbors to those who are fleeing war in the Middle East. We in the US are trying to figure out what it means to be a good neighbor to our brothers and sisters in Mexico, especially those who live in poverty and want to come here to provide a better life for their families. Those of us who were “here first” are often as being more deserving than those who seek to immigrate as our ancestors did, as if we somehow did something to earn our seat of privilege here. The twin sins of inequality and favoritism have crept into the world and have caused havoc, oppression, and sorrow. All over the place. That’s why it’s so important for us to host Presbyterian Peacemaker Manolis Ntamparakis from Greece next month. He’ll be talking to us about what he is doing in Greece to help refugees there. And we’ll be having a public discussion panel presentation with friends from refugee and immigrant service organizations, as well as some high profile immigrants themselves. It’s hard to figure out these lines and how to be a good neighbor and friend to the people we find around us.

Proverbs says that God made us all – rich or poor. God made the people with smartphones and the people with barely enough food on the table. God made the citizens and the refugees. God wants all to experience real Christian love. In , God even says that the Israelites are to “give the foreigner whatever they want” so that they might come to know God. That’s how much God cares about the poor and the outcast – the refugee and the foreigner. Give them what they want – help them fulfill their daily needs so that they might come to know God.

But hundreds of years later, when James writes – long after the time of the Proverbs and Chronicles – we see the problem isn’t gone. It’s still lurking in the background. The poor are still not being taken care of and those who are different are still being pushed out to the edges of society.

There are a group of books in the Old Testament called “Wisdom Literature” and Proverbs falls into that category. James is actually considered by some to be the one book of wisdom in the New Testament. Much like Proverbs, it is a “this is what a wise person looks like” book. This favoritism that the Israelites used to show, that the early Christians were showing, that the world even today still participates fully in – that’s not what a wise person looks like. It’s foolish.

The rich have a responsibility not to question why the “Have-nots” have not, but to help provide for their daily needs. The wealthy – the smart phone holding, car driving, four walls and a roof and food in the kitchen wealthy – have a special responsibility to care for those who don’t have clothing or food or shelter. James goes so far as to say if you say you have faith, but don’t care about the daily needs of all people, you’re missing the point and your faith isn’t going to get you very far.

God created everyone. God didn’t just create some and not others. God didn’t create some more than others. God didn’t do a better job or a more careful job creating some people and mess up a little on others. In spite of the evil inequalities that plague our world, God is still the maker of us all. And just as those who are able but not willing to share their wealth – those who plant injustice in the world – will ultimately find themselves in a load of hot water, those who are generous will be blessed for their kindness and their love. They might not be blessed with material riches – that’s not the kind of blessing God’s worried about here, nor is it the kind of blessing we should be worried about – but they will be blessed richly by God in their faith, in their relationships, and in the honor that comes with having a good name – a name that when people hear it, they say, “That is a great person right there.” A name that is said with fondness by all. It is a name that maintains its integrity and compassion in a world lacking in integrity and compassion.

The same is true when a community is known by a name associated with compassion and integrity. I read an article a while back about a church in Berlin where many formerly Muslim refugees from Syria have converted to Christianity because of the love they’ve been shown by the church there welcoming them with open arms.

We can and must work toward better balance in the world. We can do so by being good stewards of our abundance – not just good stewards, but ridiculously, over the top, generous stewards of our resources – inviting people in and providing for their daily needs no matter who they are and why they are in need. As individuals and as a congregation, our top financial priority should be to make sure that we are giving to those who have less than we do. Whether we feel like it or not, we live in a ridiculously wealthy part of the world. That means we have a special obligation to give generously to the church in order to spread the Word of God and that we have a special obligation to give to those who aren’t so lucky – those children who don’t have any other meals to rely on aside from their school lunch, those who are struggling to provide a good life for their kids, the mentally ill who can’t seem to keep a home or job, those who struggling with addiction, the guy who is just terminally and inexplicably out of work. Because mercy triumphs over judgment. Judgment is not our business – it’s God’s, and any of us who have messed up so much as once, have messed up. There’s no “better than” in God’s eyes. So judgment is not our business – mercy is.

It can feel at times like a lost cause – like no matter how much we do, the world still keeps crushing down around us. It feels like we can speak out, we can take a stand as a church against injustice and poverty, we can send money, give food, donate clothing, host peacemakers, and it hardly seems to scratch the surface. But it’s not just about the work, the action. It’s about how the action and faith happen together. They are intimately tied to one another.

I read a story in one of my commentaries that exemplifies what we’re doing here and why we are meant to continue acting out our faith even when it doesn’t seem to make any Earthly change around us.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 4 Pastoral Perspective

Abraham Johannes Muste graduated from Hope College and Union Theological Seminary. Inspired by the Christian mysticism of the Quakers, Muste became a pacifist and worked with many activist groups. After decades of work in civil rights, social justice, and disarmament, he sorrowfully saw the beginning of the Vietnam War. Because of his integrity, Muste was trusted by all groups and guided their efforts in ending the war. In 1966 he led a group of pacifists to Saigon. After trying to demonstrate for peace, they were arrested and deported. That same year, Muste flew with a small team of religious leaders to Hanoi, where he met with Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese Communist leader. They were two old men meeting in the midst of war, one of them committed to the path of violent change and the other to nonviolence.

During the Vietnam War, Muste stood many nights in Washington holding a candle in silent protest outside of the White House. When asked by an incredulous reporter if he thought this would really change U.S. policy on Vietnam, Muste replied: “Oh, I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country won’t change me.”

I don’t share this story to argue about whether the Vietnam War, or any war, was acceptable or not, but rather to illustrate why we must continue to live out our faith, speak up against injustice, work to battle poverty, even when it seems on the surface like it’s not helping. Injustice, poverty, favoritism. . . these are all in direct opposition of our faith and a faith that does not speak out, stand up, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, welcome the immigrant, protect the refugee, visit the prisoner, care for the sick, educate the child is not the same faith as that which is placed in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

This morning, we celebrate communion. We remember Jesus’ mercy for us. His body broken for us. His blood shed for us. We didn’t deserve that, dear ones. And yet, he showed mercy. Let us not take that lightly after we have celebrated that sacrament this morning, after we have reflected on these words of scripture challenging us to be merciful and loving, let’s not go out unchanged or inactive.

The Chrsitian faith means

The great argument that Martin Luther had against the book of James is that it talks too much about works and he thought it stressed the merits of work as in being good people is what saves us. But that’s not at all what James is saying. James is saying that the evidence of our faith in Christ is the mercy we show others. Evidence of faith in Christ is seen on that back table and on that sign up sheet in the narthex as we collect food and prepare meals to feed the hungry. Evidence of faith in Christ is seen in the giving of the congregation to keep the church funded to do important ministry and outreach and in the mission giving of the church in turn to continue funding ministry and mission all over the country and the world. Evidence of faith in Christ is seen in standing side by side with those who suffer injustice and inequality. When a Christian walks past the table without contributing, or leaves homeless unfed, or refuses to give generously while ministry and mission both locally and globally underfunded and understaffed, ignores or participates injustice, intolerance, and division between “us” and “them”, there is nothing to back up their claims to faith.

That is what James is saying.

Oh, we are saved by faith, not by works. But real faith, my friends, is followed mercy because it’s not about you or me. It’s about God’s desire to love and protect all people. Mercy without judgment. Mercy, remembering that we are all deserving of judgment, and yet we are all forgiven. Mercy doesn’t judge, it doesn’t question the need, it fills the need. Just as God fills our needs, in spite of our sins. We must continue to act in mercy and fairness and love and charity not because we ourselves can change the world, but because when we act in mercy and fairness and love and charity, we refuse to let the world change who we are as Christians. We bring honor to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the name of the church. Through caring about the provision of needs for all, we point the world to God.

This faith, my friends, is about mercy. Mercy without judgment. Mercy, remembering that we are all deserving of judgment, and yet we are all forgiven. Mercy doesn’t judge, it doesn’t question the need, it fills the need. Just as God fills our needs, in spite of our sins. We must continue to act in mercy and fairness and love and charity not because we ourselves can change the world, but because when we act in mercy and fairness and love and charity, we refuse to let the world change who we are as Christians. We bring honor to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the name of the church. Through caring about the provision of needs for all, we point the world to God.

n ↑o See ; ; ↑The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ↑x See ; See ; ↑y ↑z See ↑a See ; See 19:17; 28:27 ↑The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ↑l See ; See ↑m See ↑n See ; ↑o ; See 9:1; ↑The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ↑b : Remember when we talked about Communion and how not all people were welcomed at the table. ↑The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ↑11:13 “For each one are successive [angels] before and behind him who protect him by the decree of Allah . Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. And when Allah intends for a people ill, there is no repelling it. And there is not for them besides Him any patron.”